Chemotherapy of Gastrointestinal Cancer

IN this country, and, indeed, the world over, gastrointestinal cancer causes more deaths than cancer taking origin in any other organ system. Although management of these diseases has traditionally been considered the realm of the surgeon, there has not been any substantive improvement in surgical treatment since the middle of this century. Overall end results remain dismal, with five-year survival rates of less than 5 per cent for carcinomas of the esophagus, pancreas, liver and biliary tract, and only 12 per cent for carcinomas of the stomach.1 Even in the area of greatest surgical success, large-bowel cancer, well over half . . .